Joe Christmas, also known as Joseph Hines or Joe McEachern, is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 and a central protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

, or antagonist

Antagonist

An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

, in William Faulkner

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

's 1932 novel, "Light in August

Light in August

Light in August is a 1932 novel by the American author William Faulkner.Light in August is an exploration of racial conflict in the society of the Southern United States. Originally Faulkner planned to call the novel Dark House, which also became the working title for Absalom, Absalom!...

". He is an example of the Tragic mulatto

Tragic mulatto

The Tragic mulatto is a stereotypical fictional character that appeared in American literature during the 19th and 20th centuries. The "tragic mulatto" is an archetypical mixed race person , who is assumed to be sad or even suicidal because they fail to completely fit in the "white world" or the...

, and is often described as one of the loneliest characters in American literature.

Joe Christmas was born to a white mother and a father of unknown ancestry, possibly Mexican. After his mother died in childbirth he was brought to an orphanage where he lived until he was 5 years old. He was adopted by white Christian parents where he lived until he was 17. He then became a drifter and alternately "passed" as white or black until he settled in Jefferson, Mississippi in his early 30s until his death.

Allusions to Jesus Christ

• Joe was discovered at the orphanage on Christmas night
• Joe Christmas is named after the Christian celebration of Jesus' birth
• Joe Christmas and Jesus Christ have the same initials (J.C.)
• Joe Christmas died at age 33, the same age as Jesus Christ at his crucifixion